Knowledge is not Understanding
by AllKindsOfWeird
Summary: Once upon a time Near and Mello were students at Wammy's. Near may be number one but there are still some things he has yet to learn. honest reviews appreciated


Near curled his hair around his finger idley as he thought. He reached his hand out and carefully placed another card atop his card tower. Thirteen left and he would need another deck. Perhaps after that he would stop because to continue from there would require that he stand.

His homework for the night lay neatly in a stack next to him completed though he'd yet to store it in his notebook thanks to an open ended critical thinking problem that he was certain he could answer better. The problem read like this:

_If you were to question a criminal who was known to be a cronic lier which method of questioning would be the best to retrieve the needed information?__ Be sure to explain your answer providing support from the book, class, and first hand analysis. (2 pages)_

Nears' answer was three pages and his answer was a good one at that yet he remained unsatisfied. The reason for this unsatisfaction lay somewhere in the short confrontation he'd had with Mello immediately following the class from which the homework was assigned.

This particular encounter with Mello would never have had the chance to happen if Linda's new boyfriend (Near still didn't know his name even thought the boy had attended Wammy's for a number of years) hadn't bumped into him on his way out of the classroom. The jolt caused Near's rarely used notebook to be dislodged from his hands and the papers inside spilled across the floor.

Near, slightly annoyed, knelt down to pick them up when in this process two shiney black boots stepped directly into his line of vision. As he looked up he saw the knees bend and a body came down with its head following putting the others nose to his eye level. Mello picked up a paper directly in between them and quickly read it. His mouth twisted in what he would consider a smile but Near reguarded as closer to a sadistic grin.

Niether party moved for the duration of Mello's assessing Near's homework. Finally, Mello spoke. "_Question a criminal to gain information,_ is that right. Near, how can you question a criminal when you don't understand what motivates people?"

Near met Mello's stare. He chose not to reply. From the look on the others face, he expected that.

"I'll answer it then. You can't." Mello stood again, put his hands on his hips breifly, and walked—rather sauntered away down the hall.

Near knew what motivated people. It didn't take a genius to figure that out; lust, money, love, hate, revenge, desire – the obvious ones and curiosity, moral standing, boredom being some of the lesser ones. Something happened then that startled Near and not very much startles him. He heard Mello's voice in his head. '_You don't _understand_ what motivates people.'_ Mello was very fond of semantics. Near wasn't which is why he didn't notice the slight verb diference in their thinking right away.

Near's things were all replaced back into his notebook and in a somewhat neat fashion. Near did not do this. A red candy stained mouth smiled at him with the head of the lollipop bulging at the cheek. "You should stop sitting in the middle of the hallway. Someones gonna run you over."

Matt said practical things like that. It was funny considering most of the time he played games which never operated via practicality or logic for that matter. "From the looks of you someone already did. You had a run-in with Mello?" Matt switched his lollipop from the left side of his mouth to the right.

"Yes, but my things were on the floor for another reason."

"He bugged ya, didn't he?" Matt was a gifted child but certain things were a given.

"He said nothing of consequence."

Matt shook his head and then smiling again, cocked it to one side. "Mello never says anything that isn't of consequence. If you don't listen, he'll hit you and that's a consequence." Ever practical Matt. "You know that."

"No, I don't." Near most certainly did not know why Mello chose violence over discussion.

"You do know. You might not understand but you know." Matt handed Near his notebook and waved a 'see ya later' before he too left down the hallway.

Near stopped curling his hand around the hair by his temple. He knew calculous, he knew criminal theory, he knew brain functioning and neuroscience but did he understand them? Did he understand Mello and did he understand Matt? Did he understand himself?

Near picked up his three page response to the open answer critical thinking questions and he tore it in two. Near opened to a fresh page in his rarely used notebook.


End file.
